A Worthwhile Read
Today I'd like to share with you something that's been mesmerising me for weeks...

The truth is, lately it seems like reading the Quran has been a ritual and I don't even understand what I'm reading in the first place cause I only know uberbasic arabic, so the habit becomes really bland..and admittedly, my drive to read it consistently just wanes into like sparse moments, between the last (late) prayer and the next Azan, just to kill time..

But this guy makes translations into english such an easy read and even enjoyable. Take for example the simple Alif, Lam, Mim at the start of surah Al-Baqarah..and a few other surahs following it, he explains it in an Appendix at the end of Al-Baqarah:

"Certain surahs have an initial prefix to them, which are called the "Abbreviated Letters". A number of conjectures have been made as to their meaning. Opinions are divided as to the exact meaning of each particular letter or combination of letters, and it is agreed that only Allah knows its exact meaning.
Their presence is not inconsistent with the character of the Quran as a "plain book". The book of nature is also a plain book, but how few can fully understand it? Everyone can get out of the Quran plain guidance for his life according to his capacity for spiritual understanding. As his capacity grows, so will his understanding grow. The whole book is a record for all time. It must necessarily contain truths that only gradually unfold themselves to humanity. "

He then goes on to describe the phonetics of the arabic alphabet and the different combinations and its meanings.

Anyway the copy that I have looks like this:

The Holy Quran, Text, Translation and Commentary; the latter two configured by 'Abdullah Yusuf 'Ali.

Every surah has an introduction to its general meaning and to emphasize the situational context in which it was sent, so people won't misunderstand some laws in a totally radical and abstract context...

And so today my parents were inspired to take the family out for an outing. Since my older younger brother is running somewhere in the jungles of jurong west and my older younger sister has some kind of magnetic pull that attaches her to the bed and renders her unmovable until 2pm at least, that left 3 kids and 2 enthusiastic adults. Guess where we went!



And so it was a suuper relaxed day getting lost in the jungles of macRitchie and together reading aloud every single board that met us along the way. We saw turtles, tiny fishes swimming against a mini current, and several apparent ancestors of ours.


And at the end of the walk, we realised we weren't even close to reaching the tree top trail! Which means another family outing! yay!

And now I am inspired to set the AMAZON Rainforests as my ideal holiday destionation:)